However, the growth these digital assets have already experienced over the years has put a damper on the growth they can still experience in the coming years. That’s why investors are looking elsewhere for bigger gains.
Bitcoin and ethereum gains are smaller
During the last bull market, it became clear that bitcoin and Ethereum would no longer be able to offer the kind of returns that early investors had been getting. At the previous cycle’s low, bitcoin had fallen as low as $6,000, but had reached $69,000 at its peak. This was a 10x growth for the digital asset.
The case was similar for Ethereum, the second-largest crypto-currency by market cap, though it performed much better than bitcoin. It went from a cycle low of about $100 to $4,800 at its peak. That’s about 50 times growth for the digital asset.
However, their already massive growth has turned off investors, not because they are not good investments, but because their potential for exponential explosion has been significantly reduced. For example, the current price of bitcoin, even if it reached $100,000 per coin, would represent less than 10 times growth.
The same is true for Ethereum, although this digital asset has more growth potential than bitcoin because it is much younger. If ETH were to reach $10,000 per token, that would represent barely 10x growth.
Altcoins take the cake
Altcoins have outpaced market leaders like bitcoin and Ethereum in terms of gains during the latest bull market. Where these large digital assets have grown by less than 50 times, smaller altcoins like Dogecoin and Shiba Inu have seen returns on investment in the thousands.
Primarily, meme currencies were known for such returns, but altcoins from other spheres had also seen the same type of growth. FTM is a token that traded as low as $0.2 and peaked at over $3.4 during the bull market. DOGE’s price rose impressively from $0.004 to $0.7 at the height of its rally.
However, this is just one small example of the many ways altcoins have been great investments during the bull market. With the next bull market due in 2024, it’s no surprise that investors are turning to smaller cap tokens in hopes of catching the next DOGE or SHIB.